Jana Volfová

* 1934

  • “What happened in the villages was that they looked for the richest farmer or for the one who had the most land. To destroy him as a kulak. At our place, unfortunately, this one really nice family, the Šimons - they had the most land - found itself the focus of attention of the village functionaries. There were some five big farms there. Too bad that it happened to his the Šimons. Their farm was confiscated, and they were evicted from the village even though they were extremely decent people.”

  • “They were members of the secret police. They entered the grammar school and came into the staff room. They took me by car across to the Smíchov side of the river to a house with no signs whatsoever. They led me up to an office on the first floor. There were four people there. That was after I had visited my husband’s aunt, who had married off to England, when things weren’t so strict. I spent six weeks there over the holidays, before the Russians came. I got to see London and Great Britain with my own eyes. The secret police thought they’d make a snitch out of me. They questioned me about what I had seen - which ships and which ports. They wrote out a long statement. I was interrogated by a man and a woman, then the other two were in a neighbouring room. They put the statement down in front of me and said: ‘Now, Comrade Volfová, read what your responses were, what questions we asked you.’ I said: ‘Why should I read it, I know what I said.’ He said: ‘You have to read it so that after you leave, you don’t start saying we poked you in the eyes.’ I retorted: ‘Goodness, how can you make sure I don’t start saying that as soon as I get out of here?’ I think their jaws probably dropped at that, they must have reckoned what a dumb woman I was. So they let me go. I must admit that it wasn’t until I came out of that house that I realised that it was originally supposed to be an offer of collaboration. But I guess my cheeky remark made them think: ‘This woman is no use.’”

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    Hroznová ul., Praha, 22.04.2015

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Everything has changed

Jana Adášková - Volfová - in time of school
Jana Adášková - Volfová - in time of school
photo: archiv pamětnice

Jana Volfová was born on 16 October 1934 in Úherce near Mladá Boleslav. The family soon moved to Veselá near Mnichovo Hradiště. Her father had a joiner’s shop there, which became communal property in 1948; her mother was a housewife. Both her parents and her grandparents imbued her with a love for her country and its history - they were avid readers. They gave her a wonderful childhood and were her role models in many aspects of their lives. She especially influenced by her grandfather Václav Řebík - a French Legionnaire. After completing elementary school in Veselá, Jana Volfová attended grammar school in Mladá Boleslav. After graduating she went on to study history and geography at the University of Pedagogy. Before earning her degree she married the Film Academy student Volf, which allowed he to stay in Prague. Although she was qualified to teach at secondary schools, she taught at several primary schools for many years. In the mid-1960s she was accepted to teach at the Academic Grammar School in Štěpánská Street. She appreciates the freedom that reigned in the institution despite the Communist regime, even in the days of encroaching normalisation, thanks to the headmaster, Franěk, a Holocaust survivor. She refused offers to join the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia and to collaborate with State Security. Jana Volfová summarised the results of her studies in short essays depicting famous and less-known figures of Czech history.